As you slowly lowered yourself into bed, you grimaced at the pain in your side. Trying to not disturb your sleeping husband, you slid your legs gently under the blankets and laid your head against your pillow, holding your breath as you found a comfortable position.

"Hey, you're back late."

You closed your eyes shut tight and sighed, not really wanting to explain this to Steve. Whispering, you kept your head turned away from him. "Yeah, we got held up a bit, sorry. I was trying not to wake you." Glancing at the clock next to your bed, you were shocked that it read 4am. You had no idea it was this late. "Go back to sleep, babe, we can talk later."

"Mmm hmm." He agreed under his breath, rolling on his side towards you, lazily laying his arm across your side. You sucked in a sharp breath at the stabbing pain in your ribs as his arm landed. "Hey, are you okay?" Steve quickly raised up on his elbow, now fully awake and concerned. He reached down to lift your t-shirt up so he could inspect your injury, but you quickly grabbed his hand to stop him.

"I'm fine, Steve. It just got a bit more physical than we had anticipated."

Slapping your hand away and giving you a stern look, he roughly pulled up your shirt to reveal a large, dark bruise covering your left side from your armpit down to your mid-abdomen. "Are you fucking kidding me, (Y/N)? This needs to get checked out. This looks really bad." Steve rolled to his other side, sitting up on the edge of the bed to turn on the light, preparing to get dressed.

With a deep sigh, you tried to sit up but the pain caught your breath. "Ok, maybe you're right." You tried again to sit, but the tightness in your muscles was too much to argue with. "Hun, could you throw me a pair of sweatpants and my shoes?"

You could hear Steve talking quietly to someone. As he turned around you saw him slip his phone into his pajama pants pocket. He gently pulled your sweats on for you, but skipped the shoes and gently lifted you from the bed. "I called in the team doc. He'll be here in a few minutes." As he carried you to the elevator, he took a deep breath and shook his head. "You can't hide stuff like this from me, (Y/N). This won't happen again."

Closing your eyes and resting your head against his shoulder, you nodded in agreement. If only you actually believed it.

~~~

It took a few weeks for the Captain to assign you to another mission, worried that you would be injured again. You knew that your injury wasn't a fault of yours; you were one of the most skilled members of the team. In fact, your skills were so sharp and well defined that Steve had assigned you to lead missions without him, even over Tony or Natasha. Not everyone was as thrilled about this as you, however, with one particular agent causing a disruption over their attitude towards you. You knew that if you told Steve that your recent injuries were directly attributed to this particular agent's behavior, he would take the matter into his own hands. This was something you needed to figure out on your own if you wanted to maintain his trust in you and your abilities as a leader.

"Alright, team. Move out."

You were lost in your thoughts and hadn't listened closely to the Captain's directions, but this was an easy mission so you didn't feel it was a problem. Grabbing the file from his hands, you opened it to see the team members you would be bringing with you. Quickly closing the folder, you sighed and looked up at Steve, "Okay, Cap. We should be back by dusk."

Steve's posture straightened as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Is there a problem?"

"No. No problem." Giving him a small smile, you tried to reassure him so that he would drop the subject.

"Is that not the team you wanted? Is there someone in particular that you would like me to remove?" He was slowly moving towards you now, stopping just as your bodies were about to touch. His arms were still crossed as he looked down at you, his jaw tight and his face expressionless. "Is there something I should know, (Y/N)?"

"Why...why would you ask that?" You took a small step back, now fully intimidated by your husband, for the first time that you could remember. "No, Captain, this looks good. I...I don't see any problems." You turned quickly to make an exit, hoping that he wouldn't follow.

~~~

"We're approaching the drop zone, sir."

With a final check on your parachute, you stood, directing your team to prepare for the jump. "Kemp and Hiller, you go in and retrieve the weapons while Johnson and I guard the perimeter. We'll rendezvous at the drop site at 0930. That's fifteen minutes. We good?" You heard a scoff coming from the group, from the only person you expected to be insubordinate to your lead. "Something you'd like to say, Kemp?"

"No, ma'am. This is your mission, you're calling it." He lowered his head and mumbled under his breath, "again".

The jump was never something you looked forward to. You couldn't deal with him right now; you needed to gather your resolve to leap from thousands of feet in the air. Squeezing your eyes shut and holding your breath, you took the leap.

~~~

The mission had gone perfectly; in fact you had five minutes to spare. As you walked to the retrieval site, you grabbed your phone to update Steve. You didn't see Kemp standing in your path, looking ready to fight.

"You know, we're getting really tired of this special treatment you're getting from the Captain. Just because you're married to the guy, you think you're so much better, so much more deserving than us." He stepped up toe to toe with you, poking you sharply in the shoulder. "It's time for that shit to end."

Dropping back to take a defensive stance, you pulled a knife from your sleeve, ready for his attack. Your skills outmatched his easily, but your nerves were getting the best of you. If this fight happens, there was no way to keep it from Steve.

"You know, I really thought you would have learned the last time. I gave you a pretty big hit. You're either tougher than you look, or a hell of a lot dumber." The agent lunged forward, hooking his leg behind yours, attempting to knock you down.

As he lunged, you wrapped your arm around his throat, flipping him over and onto his back before he could take you off balance. Before you could secure him to the ground, he jumped up, now holding his gun at you.

"It's a shame, Captain. She fought really hard, saved us all. You would have been proud, sir." Kemp nodded his head, satisfied with his performance. "Yeah, he should believe that, don't you think, (Y/N)? A Captain's wife should go out in a blaze of glory."

Steeling yourself, you saw his finger twitch as he began to pull the trigger. Before he could discharge the weapon, Steve's shield connected and knocked him to the ground, unconscious and bleeding. Your adrenaline was surging, and you felt as if your heart would explode from your chest. You fell to your knees, your legs shaking and no longer having the strength to support you.

"Steve..." your breath was fast and panting, "Steve, why are you..."

Steve ran past you towards Kemp. You were quickly brought to attention when the Captain began punching the unconscious agent, clearly no longer in control of himself. His fists were covered in blood now, and you weren't sure whose it was. "Steve! Steve, stop!" Jumping up behind him, you grabbed his arms, attempting to pull them away. "Captain Rogers, you can't do this!"

Finally relenting, his shoulders slumped as he looked down at his hands, then at the agent. "I told you. This wasn't going to happen again."

~~~

Entering the conference room, you paused at the door as the team turned to look at you. Steve had filled them in on the situation with Kemp, despite the fact that you asked him not to. Your first instinct was to turn and leave, but that wouldn't make it go away, it would only delay the inevitable conversation.

"Hey, everyone." Taking your seat next to Steve, you folded your hands in your lap and lowered your head. You were prepared to answer their questions, to just get it done once and for all.

Bruce was the first to speak, clearing his throat as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. He slowly removed his glasses and looked at you. "(Y/N), we're very sorry that you had to go thru this. We recruited Kemp, so we take full responsibility for this. We should have caught this in his mental health and personality screening. We just need to know if you're okay." He paused, putting his glasses back on, "Are you okay?"

Your mouth was agape, not believing what you were hearing. You were certain that they would find you unable to lead missions, incapable of controlling your team, unable to stand up for yourself. This wasn't what you were expecting, and tears threatened to spill from your eyes as you met Steve's gaze.

Tony stood and moved to stand behind you. "Hey, now. There are no tears allowed during official business." He slapped a hand on your shoulder. "Not on my watch. Ain't that right, Barton?"

Clint threw his hands in the air, shaking his head in embarrassment. "Seriously, Stark? That was one time!"